Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Is AI the future of education?

Key points:

  • AI can optimize the learning experience, the classroom is a delicate ecosystem and changes can have unintended effects
  • AI is the future of work, and students must be prepared for it–and be familiar with it
  • See related article: It’s important to teach generative AI–here’s why

Sometime late last year, AI reached an inflection point. Experts have been making grand predictions on its behalf for decades, but the moment OpenAI opened ChatGPT up to the public, the actual potential of this technology became clear on a mass level. Almost instantly, hundreds of articles began to appear on the transformative potential of AI for fields as diverse as medicine, law, and entertainment.

Of course, some fields are more amenable to technological revolutions than others. You can see why lawyers, for instance, might appreciate instantly generated summaries of past case law—but the implications of AI in the classroom might be trickier. Teachers are understandably wary; they’re interested in anything that might optimize the learning experience, but they also know that the classroom is a delicate ecosystem, and that any change can have unintended knock-on effects.…Read More

Promethean Works With Merlyn Mind To Increase Classroom Productivity and Support Innovative Teaching

SEATTLE /PRNewswire/ —  Promethean®, a leading global education technology company, today announced it has entered into a US-based exclusive distribution agreement with  Merlyn Mind, Inc. With the new agreement, Promethean will distribute Symphony Classroom™, the artificial intelligence (AI) solution that brings the Merlyn digital assistant to teachers powered by voice-activated AI. With the alliance, customers will be able to purchase Symphony Classroom directly through Promethean’s network of resellers.  

Symphony Classroom delivers the Merlyn digital assistant custom-built for the unique needs of education — enabling teachers to use voice commands or a remote to control their laptops, interactive displays, internet browsers, apps, and more. Powered by Symphony Classroom’s EdgeAI® technology that provides lightning-fast responsiveness, Merlyn frees teachers to move around the classroom so they can interact with students, simplifies everyday classroom tasks, and improves overall efficiency and productivity.

“Promethean’s  ActivPanel is the interactive display of choice for millions of teachers who rely on technology to drive student engagement and spark their imagination,” said Vin Riera, chief executive officer at Promethean. “By adding Symphony Classroom to our portfolio, we will make it easier for educators to teach untethered, supporting a student-centered environment that increases participation.”…Read More

Promethean Announces the All-New ActivPanel with ActivSync, Delivering a Transformational and Intuitive User Experience

SEATTLE, WA and NEW ORLEANS, LA–June 27, 2022– Promethean, a leading global education technology company, has announced the all-new ActivPanel with ActivSync that delivers the most robust, seamless, and secure user experience yet. With the new interactive panel, Promethean meets the needs of teachers and IT administrators with intuitive, cutting-edge technology that enables a seamless classroom experience. With its easy, secure sign-in options, streamlined connection to content, flexible lesson delivery software, and personalized user experience, ActivPanel 9 offers the tools needed to transform how teachers use technology.

After listening to more than 1,300 customers across the globe, Promethean designed the interactive panel to facilitate navigating a changing environment. The only interactive panel with ActivSync, Promethean’s patented technology, eliminates digital barriers between devices and enables increased connectivity, customizable settings, and enhanced mobility so that teachers can move around the classroom freely. Furthermore, Promethean redesigned the user experience, providing a solution for instructional models, such as hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous learning that integrate hardware and software in all scenarios.  

“With our commitment to providing educators the ability to transform learning and collaboration, ActivPanel 9 is our most innovative release to date,” said Lance Solomon, chief product officer at Promethean. “We addressed the challenges teachers, IT administrators, and district officials face by creating an interactive panel that is more secure, easier to use, and works better with other technology in their classrooms.”…Read More

Promethean Announces iKeepSafe Student Data Privacy Certification in the U.S. for ClassFlow Software

 Promethean®, a leading global education technology company, today at TCEA 2021 announced its ClassFlow™ platform had received iKeepSafe certification renewal. The certifications for FERPA, COPPA, and California (Student Privacy – CSPC) mean that ClassFlow has been assessed by iKeepSafe and meets iKeepSafe’s rigorous standards. iKeepSafe assesses and certifies for compliance with U.S. federal and state privacy laws, helping to eliminate privacy concerns during remote, hybrid, or in-person teaching.

Promethean’s ClassFlow enhances remote learning as a cloud-based lesson delivery service with advanced collaboration tools for student engagement. ClassFlow keeps remote, hybrid, and in-person students interested in interactive lessons, activities, quizzes, and thousands of immersive resources, lessons, and activities from educators worldwide. It also helps teachers deliver dynamic lessons to students’ devices and brings interactive classroom displays to life for effective hybrid learning. As ClassFlow is cloud-based, it can be accessed anytime and anywhere.

iKeepSafe privacy certifications ensure that edtech products are compliant and demonstrate responsible privacy, safety, and security practices. ClassFlow received the following certifications:…Read More

Promethean Partners with Radix to Expand Device Management and Security

Today at FETC 2021, Promethean®, a leading global education technology company, announced a premium device and application management solution for the seamless management of virtually any device in a school’s technology ecosystem. This new offering is the result of focused efforts between Promethean and Radix, a cutting-edge device management solution provider. This solution will directly reduce IT administrators’ work time and introduce new opportunities for efficient centralized remote control of devices, including the Promethean ActivPanel® Elements Series from a single web console.

As classrooms have seen rapid evolution over the last year, new guidelines required schools to quickly transform educational settings for remote and hybrid learning. This resulted in a proliferation of new edtech devices within educational ecosystems that were already complex. Managing all these devices and keeping them secure in hybrid and remote learning environments has never been more important.

Promethean Panel Management simplifies device management by deploying mass updates, grouping devices, and setting ActivPanel® Elements Series configurations. With the implementation of Radix VISO, users can greatly expand management to cover prior generations of ActivPanels and the ever-growing number of other devices within schools. Radix VISO device management and Promethean Panel Management together deliver comprehensive device management, allowing IT teams to manage growing infrastructures more efficiently while improving security and ensuring a seamless user experience.…Read More

Yamaha CS-700 Video Sound Bar Now Available With Promethean Collaboration Tool

Yamaha Unified Communications is partnering with Promethean Interactive Displays and DisplayNote to outfit conference rooms with a three-for-one enterprise-grade plug-and-play collaboration tool. Exclusively available from Promethean, the display system simplifies meetings, making them more productive than ever before. It provides conference and collaboration spaces with high-quality, professional audio, video, and meeting room software. Featuring Yamaha’s award-winning CS-700 all-in-one Video Sound Bar, Promethean’s ActivPanel™ Titanium Pro, and DisplayNote Launcher application, the solution is fast and simple to deploy, set up, and operate.

“Think of this system as your next enhanced collaboration solution, bringing together three of the industry’s leaders in interactivity and superior communication,” said Michelle Baeza director strategic partnerships, Yamaha Unified Communications, Inc. “Our solution is affordable, easy to deploy and operate, providing organizations with everything they need to launch a collaborative meeting with one touch.”

Engineered from the ground up leveraging Yamaha’s years of audio and UCC expertise, the CS-700 Video Sound Bar integrates an adaptive beamforming microphone array for perfectly captured conversation; four Yamaha speaker elements to provide the highest degree of audio intelligibility; and a wide-angle HD camera that captures guests and the room in clear detail. The solution eliminates the inherent inefficiencies of operating disparate video and audio during calls and the eye sore of cables snaked around the room.…Read More